Kyoukai no Kanata (Beyond the Boundary) ~ final thoughts

Mirai Kuriyama, the cursed spirit world warrior.

Kyoukai no Kanata (Beyond the Boundary) turned out to be a fun watch, that was emotionally engaging at times, and had some very good artwork. I suppose there are several types of questions people might have about this show, depending upon their background.

For those who know close to nothing about the show, I imagine they would be looking for basic information like, “What can I expect from this show?” It’s a Fantasy-Action Anime from a top-tier production company (Kyoto Animation). It looks great, has some plot twists and exciting developments, but it isn’t go-to material for someone looking for tight plots, with no loose ends, or realism, or philosophy.

Those who saw that it is listed as having Significant Objectionable Content on Anime News Network might be wondering, “What’s up with that?” Personally I think that is ridiculous. It has a lot of fantasy violence, including a character that can control her blood (and usually shapes it as a sword, as in the screen cap above), but it is so fantastical that, despite the blood, it is a bit tough to think of it as gory. It also has frequent references to perversions, including a sister complex and a fetish for girls who wear glasses, but this has to be one of the tamest depictions of perversion in anime in years, compared to the amount of ecchi that is standard in just about any mainstream series out there.

Some knowledgable anime fans might be wondering, “Can KyoAni make a Fantasy-Action series, without loading it up with moe?” I think the answer we received was an emphatic NO. The series looks great. I am glad that Kyoto Animation, which has immense talent for animation, worked on a real Fantasy-Action series. But I, let’s face it, this show was loaded with moe tropes. If you can handle that, it is a fun watch, but isn’t going to change a lot of minds about KyoAni.

Finally, there could be a few individuals who watched the series who wonder what I thought about this or that. I personally didn’t feel the show was weighty enough to invest a lot of time in speculating about the many loose threads left dangling. “Would you buy it? Do you think it would be worth buying a set on, say DVD, to have available for a rewatch, or to loan out?” Hmmm…. If I had to choose between buying KnK or buying Hyouka (another series by Kyoto Animation), I would certainly buy Hyouka. “Okay, but would you rather re-watch KnK, or Endless Eight?” Heh, you got me there. I’ll would probably buy Kyoukai no Kanata before I buying the second season of Haruhi no Suzumiya.

Final Thoughts

I did have fun watching Kyoukai no Kanata. It is a bit mindless, but it is a beautiful spectacle.